With many people out of town skiing it’s been comparatively quiet in Brussels town itself. A lot happened actually outside of Brussels. Trade pros even got time to write #TradeValentines poems. EU and US join Japan in plans to take China to WTO over tech protectionism A new …

VoteWatchEU released an analysis of the political party landscape in Italy as the Southern European country braces for a long-awaited general election in early March. That landscape is fragmented, with populist parties on the right and left eroding the voter base of Matteo Renzi’s centre-left PD and Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right …

The European Economic and Social Council almost unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday calling on the EU to step up its efforts to give greater weight to labour and environment chapters – known as TSD chapters – in its free trade agreements. This move adds to a rising number of calls on …

MEP Christofer Fjellner outlines his concerns with the language in the European Commission’s proposal last week on data flow provisions in free trade agreements. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of data transfers in the global economy and for the functioning of international trade. Still, digital protectionist …

Last Friday, the European Commission sent out to member states and MEPs the second version of draft language on data flows for its coming free trade agreements after lengthy internal wrangling between its services. The text will be examined at technical level in the Council this week. A decision …

With Davos done and dusted, trade-related meetings taper off quite a bit this week. In Brussels, attention will focus on efforts of ministers to figure out how to bring the EU-Mercosur trade deal to a successful conclusion. It’s also Brexit week. Mercosur ministerial meeting The EU and …